Amec Foster Wheeler awarded UK waste contracts

23 August 2017

Global engineering consultancy Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded two framework contracts by the UK's LLW Repository Ltd (LLWR) to carry out environmental safety case and waste characterisation work. The combined value of the contracts is about £4.0 million ($5.1 million).

LLWR operates the UK's Low Level Waste Repository at Drigg in Cumbria on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The company also oversees the management of lower activity waste throughout the country.

As part of the environmental safety case services framework, Amec Foster Wheeler has been appointed as the single supplier for hydrogeological and geological support, and as one of four suppliers for general technical support. That contract is expected to be worth some £2 million over the next four years.

Under the waste characterisation and assurance support framework - also estimated to be worth about £2 million over the next four years - Amec Foster Wheeler will provide analytical support services and environmental monitoring support from its full-service analytical laboratories.

Andy White, vice president for decommissioning at Amec Foster Wheeler's clean energy business, said: "The award of these frameworks reflects the high value placed on the technical expertise of our people."

He added, "LLWR has been a valued customer for many years and our understanding of their business enables us to play an integral part in the cost-effective management of UK waste streams. These wins advance Amec Foster Wheeler's strategy to expand our share of work on radiological and waste management programs in Europe."

The Drigg repository has been operating as a national low-level waste repository since 1959. It receives wastes from a range of producers, including nuclear power plants, defence establishments, general industry, hospitals and universities. Between 1959 and 1995, some 800,000 cubic metres of waste were disposed of in seven trenches, which have since been covered with an interim cap.

The disposal of waste in metal containers placed in an engineered concrete vault (Vault 8) began in 1988. Vault 8 has a total capacity of 200,000 cubic metres of waste and is almost full. A further Vault 9, with a capacity of 110,000 cubic metres, was officially opened in August 2010 but has only so far been used for temporarily storing waste.